View Full Version : Migration to Discourse



AP
01-08-2021, 09:21 AM
I am active on another message board that uses Discourse as their message board software. I have come to prefer it over others. Has there been any thought of ever migrating away from vBulletin to Discourse? I mostly ask because Discourse works much better in a mobile format. I should mention, I have no idea of the financial repercussions or the workload that would be needed to make the move. Just wondering.

Pete
01-08-2021, 09:22 AM
I am active on another message board that uses Discourse as their message board software. I have come to prefer it over others. Has there been any thought of ever migrating away from vBulletin to Discourse? I mostly ask because Discourse works much better in a mobile format. I should mention, I have no idea of the financial repercussions or the workload that would be needed to make the move. Just wondering.

We have millions of posts going back over a decade.

It would be a nightmare to convert.

jerrywall
01-08-2021, 09:29 AM
We have millions of posts going back over a decade.

It would be a nightmare to convert.

I'm not advocating going through the effort, but if you ever want to, there are some Ruby scripts out there that migrate the databases from vBulletin to Discourse. It's not something I'd recommend someone do themselves unless they're pretty script savvy, because it's not 100% perfect, but there are freelancers that will do this fairly cheaply.

AP
01-08-2021, 09:44 AM
We have millions of posts going back over a decade.

It would be a nightmare to convert.

Yeah, I can imagine the effort would be considerable. I've just really enjoyed my experience with Discourse and prefer their responsive template.

HangryHippo
01-08-2021, 09:46 AM
I would also welcome it, but I understand it’s not easily accomplished.

TheTravellers
01-08-2021, 12:58 PM
I'm not advocating going through the effort, but if you ever want to, there are some Ruby scripts out there that migrate the databases from vBulletin to Discourse. It's not something I'd recommend someone do themselves unless they're pretty script savvy, because it's not 100% perfect, but there are freelancers that will do this fairly cheaply.

At least Pete knows how to get ahold of you. :p

jerrywall
01-08-2021, 01:59 PM
True, but I'm not cheap. :D

TheTravellers
01-08-2021, 06:04 PM
True, but I'm not cheap. :D

Are you fast and good?

mugofbeer
01-08-2021, 07:18 PM
You minx.....

AP
01-13-2021, 10:03 AM
I'm going to keep banging this drum(sorry Pete.) The best part of Discourse is that it updates threads as posts are made so if a discussion is actively happening you don't have to keep refreshing the page to get new posts.

Midtowner
01-14-2021, 04:27 PM
Or maybe vBulletin will update its software and he can just run a simple update rather than a massive data migration effort.

AP
01-15-2021, 09:32 AM
It really isn't a massive data migration, but yeah. I'm sure vBulletin will update.